Research shows there’s still love for Ford Falcon and Territory

MORE than 80,000 potential Ford buyers will stick with locally made cars until the brand quits Australian production in 2016, research suggests.

Roy Morgan Research data released yesterday gave an insight into the minds of new-car buyers who intend to own a locally made Ford-badged car over the next four years.

It found that more than half of the 164,000 private buyers in the market for a new Ford in the next four years intend to buy a locally manufactured model.

“Despite increases in preference across all of Ford’s imported models over the last five years, more than half of Ford’s total intention is for locally produced vehicles,” Roy Morgan Research industry communications director Norman Morris said.

“It will be up to models like the Focus — the world’s most popular car in 2012 — and the newly introduced Kuga and EcoSport to pick up the slack when Falcon and Territory are discontinued in 2016,” he said.

According to the research, Ford buyers are more likely to live in Victoria, and are increasingly female. Almost half have a degree, and live in older or smaller households.

Mr Morris said the Ford buyers’ profile had changed in the last five years.

“They’re much less likely to consider themselves car enthusiasts than they were back in 2008, and no longer want a vehicle that handles like a race car as much as they used to,” he said.

“Not surprisingly, more than half simply regard their car as a means of getting from A to B, and rely on facts and figures (rather than emotion) when purchasing a new car.” Many of them would also consider buying a diesel-engined car, he said.